Personal project - Why I want to live in Thump Town
Updated: May 19, 2018
Amiata and Makesi
The story is based on a true story of a immigrant family of a mother and a daughter in a documentary I watched. They have been living in South Korea for 6 years. They are not wealthy but they are getting used to the life in Korea supporting each others. The main character in my story book is Makesi who is 14 years old girl. Makesi is a bright and cheerful girl and wants to be a dancer in Korea. However, in school, she finds it hard to fit in the society because of the children who bully her as she is different to them. Her mum keeps embracing her to be confident. However, it's also not easy for Amiata to be a foreign person in South Korea as lack of diversity in the country, different language and culture make her feel isolated.
How they ended up in Korea?
In Liberia, they still have the tradition of FGM(female genital mutilation). Amiata's father refused his children to get FGM and got executed. As a result, her family had to be separated and escape from Liberia when she was 13. Then she had to move around to country to country in Africa until she settled down in a refugee camp in Ghana. She had Makesi there and she found Korea as a new start of their life. Amiata and Makesi both believe Korea is a country of opportunity although they have to keep considering about the money for living and it took 7 years to be accepted as refugee by Korean government since it didn't regard FGM as a reason for refugee for the first time.
I wanted to put several points in the children's book.
1. FGM
2. Fitting in a different world
3. Not being bystander in bullying
To soften it down for children, FGM has become cutting tails off. But it's still only girl mice's tails.
The reflection of what Makesi experiences in the society.
Showing how powerful in can be when people don't neglect it
